Andrzej Stasiuk and the Literature of Periphery
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I got imprisoned for rock and roll. Andrzej Stasiuk and the Literature of Periphery Krzysztof Gajewski Institute of Literary Research Polish Academy of Science Warsaw/New York, 15 April 2021 1 / 64 Table of Contents Andrzej Stasiuk. An Introduction Literature of periphery Forms of periphery in the work of Stasiuk Biographical periphery Social periphery Political periphery Cultural periphery 2 / 64 Andrzej Stasiuk. An Introduction 3 / 64 Andrzej Stasiuk 4 / 64 USA Poland • la Pologne, c'est-à-dire nulle part (Alfred Jarry, Ubu the King, 1888) • Poland, "that is to say nowhere" 5 / 64 Andrzej Stasiuk bio Andrzej Stasiuk born on Sept., 25th, 1960 in Warsaw 6 / 64 Warsaw in the 1960. 7 / 64 Warsaw in the 1960. 8 / 64 Warsaw in the 1960. 9 / 64 Warsaw in the 1960. 10 / 64 Warsaw in the 1960. 11 / 64 Andrzej Stasiuk bio attended Professional High School of Car Factory in Warsaw 12 / 64 Andrzej Stasiuk bio 1985 anti-communist Freedom and Peace Movement 13 / 64 Andrzej Stasiuk literary debut (1989?) 14 / 64 Andrzej Stasiuk, Prison is hell These two words in English are one of the most frequ- ently performed tattoos in Polish prisons.1 1Andrzej Stasiuk, Prison is hell, Warsaw 1989? 15 / 64 Andrzej Stasiuk bio since 1990 publishing poetry and prose in Po prostu, bruLion, Czas Kultury, Magazyn Literacki, Tygodnik Powszechny and others 16 / 64 Andrzej Stasiuk in 1994 Andrzej Stasiuk in 1994: He doesn't have any special beliefs. Smokes a lot 17 / 64 Andrzej Stasiuk bio 1986 left Warsaw and settled in the mountains Low Beskids: Czarne 18 / 64 Low Beskids Czarne 19 / 64 Low Beskids Czarne 20 / 64 Beskid Niski - Czarne St. Dimitri Ortodox Church, 1783-1993 at Czarne 21 / 64 Andrzej Stasiuk bio with his wife, Monika Sznajderman, and his daughter, Antonina in 1999 22 / 64 Andrzej Stasiuk decorations 2005 decorated with the Silver Medal Merit to Culture Gloria Artis 23 / 64 Andrzej Stasiuk bio 2015 became the artistic director of the Zygmunt Haupt Festival 24 / 64 Andrzej Stasiuk bio 2018 musical group Haydamaky, album Mickiewicz, Stasiuk, Haydamaky 25 / 64 Literary works of Andrzej Stasiuk 1. Prison is hell, 1989 2. Mury Hebronu, 1992 3. Wiersze miªosne i nie, 1994 4. Biaªy kruk, 1995 5. Opowie±ci galicyjskie, 1995 6. Przez rzek¦, 1996 7. Dukla, 1997 8. Dwie sztuki (telewizyjne) o ±mierci, 1998 9. Jak zostaªem pisarzem (próba autobiograi intelektualnej), 1998 10. Dziewi¦¢, 1999 11. Moja Europa. Dwa Eseje o Europie zwanej rodkow¡, 2000 (with Jurij Andruchowycz) 12. Tekturowy samolot, 2000 13. Opowie±ci wigilijne, 2000 (with Olga Tokarczuk and Jerzy Pilch) 14. Zima, 2001 15. Jad¡c do Babadag, 2004 16. Noc. Sªowia«sko-germa«ska tragifarsa medyczna, 2005 17. Fado, 2006 18. Ciemny las, 2007 19. Dojczland, 2007 20. Czekaj¡c na Turka, 2009 21. Taksim, 2009 22. Dziennik pisany pó¹niej, 2010 23. Grochów, 2012 24. Nie ma ekspresów przy »óªtych drogach, 2013 25. Wschód, 2014 26. ycie to jednak strata jest. Andrzej Stasiuk w rozmowach z Dorot¡ Wodeck¡, 2015 27. Kucaj¡c, 2015 28. Osioªkiem, 2016 29. Kroniki beskidzkie i ±wiatowe, 2018 30. Przewóz, 2021 26 / 64 Andrzej Stasiuk in English 1. The White Raven (Serpent's Tail, 2001) 2. Tales of Galicia (Twisted Spoon 2005) 3. Nine (Harcourt, 2007) 4. Fado (Dalkey Archive 2009) 5. On the Road to Babadag (Harcourt Brace US, Harvill Secker UK, 2011), 6. Dukla (Dalkey Archive, 2011). 27 / 64 Andrzej Stasiuk's literary works all the translations 1. German (19) 2. French (16) 3. Czech (10) 4. Ukrainian (10) 5. Hungarian (9) 6. Spanish (7) 7. Swedish (7) 8. English (6) 9. Russian (6) 10. Slovakian (6) 11. Slovenian (5) 12. Bulgarian (5) 13. Italian (4) 14. Croatian (3) 15. Romanian (2) 16. Dutch (1) 28 / 64 Andrzej Stasiuk awards & prizes • Award of the Kultura Foundation (1994) • Ko±cielski Prize (1995) • Twin Towns Toru«-Getynga S.B. Linde Award (2002) • Nike Literary Prize (2005, Jad¡c do Babadag) • A. Stifer Prize for Writers from Central Europe (2005) • Gdynia Literary Award (2010, Taksim) • Award of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage for lifetime achievement (2011) • Slovenian International Literary Award Vilenica (2008) • Warsaw Literary Award in the eld of prose (2015) • Central Europe Literary Award Angelus (2015, Wschód) • Austrian State Prize for European Literature (2016) 29 / 64 Literature of periphery 30 / 64 Literature of periphery in Poland Literature of periphery (Hubert Orªowski) • Bruno Schulz, Stanisªaw Vincenz, Marek Nowakowski, Sokrat Janowicz, Zygmunt Haupt 31 / 64 Literature of periphery in US • John Steinbeck, William Faulkner 32 / 64 Forms of periphery in the work of Stasiuk 33 / 64 Biographical periphery 34 / 64 Biographical periphery social transition Dad was one of the millions who participated in this migration of peoples from the countryside to the cities. (...) The city tempted him with its possibilities. He built a house in the suburbs quite quickly, there was a garden around it, and in winter we fed the deer.2 2Life, however, is a loss 2015 35 / 64 Biographical periphery social transition Peasants' sons and grandsons came from the lost vil- lages to turn into workers. They changed from villagers to city dwellers. Just like my father.3 They didn't smell the stables. They didn't tradge along the furrow of the potato. Mother used perfume. They had an adapter and vinyl records with Poªomski and Kunicka4 3There are no expresses on the yellow roads 2013 4East 2014 36 / 64 Biographical and geographical periphery: A village In those days, there were no garbage cans in the villages. There was also no garbage. You bought all sorts of things, but not much was left of them. The sugar was left over into paper bags that could be burned in an oven or used again. The vinegar, oil, and vodka bottles could be sold at a store for a fairly substantial prot. You could also use them to store cherry and raspberry juices made at home.5 5Fado 2006 37 / 64 Biographical and geographical periphery I was a city boy (Fado 2006) • the suburbia of a big city vs. village suburbia vs. center • 38 / 64 Social periphery 39 / 64 Economics of scarcity vs. asceticism There was always something missing. Either beer, or mugs or cash. We thought it was normal and it will always be. We didn't want to change anything6 6How I Became a Writer 1998 40 / 64 Money vs. music We never talked about money. We had more important matters. Money is really shit. We argued till we dropped out, but never about these things. We jumped in our eyes about who was better: whether Oscar Peterson or Erroll Garner7 7How I Became a Writer 1998 41 / 64 Desertion Actually, I was about to go back, but I changed my mind. Just like I used to think before going to school and then before leaving the bus at the stop where was my workplace. Just general discouragement like: fuck, I'm not going... Something was swarming in my head, freedom, that wear long hair and smoke cigarettes, but in fact I had a fucking bout of boredom and disaection of the reality available in this particular form.8 8How I Became a Writer 1998 42 / 64 Political periphery 43 / 64 Communist era There was the middle of communism. I don't remember anybody complaining. The people knew worse masters and remembered the times of true slavery. [. ] I read about Chinese poverty and nibbled on a dry sausage.9 Peasants and paupers from generations, now they were eating slowly and without saying a word. With no fear of running out10 Writer's grandfather He was given a plenty of land, he no longer had to save kerosene, and in the municipal oce he drank with ocials as an equal. He did not bend his spine in front of anyone, he did not stand at anyone's door with a cap in his hand. The gentry are gone, the rich are gone. [...] The new authorities called him Mr. Klonowski11 9Journal written later 2010 10 East 2014 44 / 64 11East 2014 East, West, and personal identity During a travel through Kazakhstan: I couldn't remember the rst time I saw Vanishing Po- int. Did they let it show in communism at all? Perhaps as an example of capitalist enslavement of the individual? Maybe. Well, it's a movie of the kind you know, even if you haven't watched it. You know them like an old recur- ring dream. The Challenger had gearshift as long as the one in a tractor. Kowalski sometimes looked like Dylan in the mid-1970s. A Californian policewoman at command headquarters asks, Can anyone pronounce his name?12 12On a donkey, 2016 45 / 64 East, West, and personal identity I was a child of communism and American pop culture13 13On a donkey, 2016 46 / 64 Critics of communism Speeches of communist leaders It was hard to imagine boredom, stillness and immo- bility in more perfect form. [...] For me, a pupil of the middle olish People's Republick, the revolution will always take the form of an ugly face speaking with a dead tongue in the dead light of the TV set.14 In an airport at Bratsk, Russia Here I found traces of an experiment on a global scale. Communism was not a materialist revolution. It was es- sentially anti-materialist. It tried to invalidate matter, to negate its usefulness, its necessity15 14Cardboard Plane, 2000 15East 2014 47 / 64 Political periphery • Communism vs. capitalism • national homogeneity of Poland, contrasted to the melting pot of nations of south-central Europe 48 / 64 Cultural periphery 49 / 64 Czarne Publishing House: Woªowiec 2004 50 / 64 Houghton Miin Harcourt 2011 51 / 64 On the Road to Babadag travel phenomenology "It is good to come to a country you know practically nothing about.